Making a dress dummy

Now I did have to have help on this one, so a big big thanks goes to Lynette @ Crazed Mind for being willing to help me out. I have been doing more sewing lately and making shirts and dresses for Poo. We are trying to get summer ready and she loves dresses . It is easy enough to try things on her and see where I need to make room or take some up. She is very good about being still so I can pin the hems and whatnot. For me on the other hand it is not so easy. I really want some new shirts for working in the garden and in the yard. I want something cooler that I don't have to worry about getting stained or torn. Unfortunately, I am not a model nor do I have a model's body. Things don't always fit me the way they do on the front of a pattern so I needed a dress dummy. Now if any of you sew then you know that dress dummies are not cheap. I definitely could not afford to buy one so we went old school, redneck, ghetto, or whatever you want to call it. Here is my DUCK TAPE dress dummy! Now go ahead and have your laugh but when you think about it this is perfect. It cost about 10 dollars which is very good for my budget AND it is exactly my body. Whatever it looks like on the dummy it will look the same on me. It is much easier for me to make changes in the design if I need to and it is simple to do. Here is how you can make your own dress dummy.

You will need: 1 VERY good friend to help you ( you will be immobile and they will have scissors) 3 to 4 rolls of duck tape ( depending on how stiff you want it to be) 1 very snug shirt you are willing to cut up (short or long sleeves depending on what you prefer)

First, put on your snug shirt and set you main taping lines. Under the bust is a good place to start. Then do across shoulders and under the arms. Now it is time to just spin and wrap the tape all around you. You want the tape to be snug but not to tight. You want your bumps to still be there and you will need to have room for the scissors to get under it to cut you out. After you have several layers of tape all over, make sure they are interlocking with the shoulder area and the arms so it is one uniform piece. Now you are ready to be released:) Cut the underside of one sleeve to the armpit. Now cut from the bottom of the same side up to the armpit. Now you should be able to slide out. Tape the seam heavily and stuff with whatever you have handy. Mine is stuffed with bubble paper , plastic grocery bags, and scrap fabric since I did not have a lot of any of them.

I was lucky enough to be able to put mine on a stand and tape it to the stand for stability. So now I have a wonderful dress dummy on a stand for around 10 bucks. That's about what it would have cost for 1 new shirt. Now I can make several shirts and maybe even a dress or two for me without the hassle of getting it all done and having to rip out a seam because it doesn't fit right. Yay!!